Thanks to everyone who read the previous chapter, and big hugs to those who reviewed.

You're all awesome! **Muah**

Managed to find a bit of time to distract myself by writing... and as always, it poured out all at once.

So the case continues...


"Hey."

Beckett turned to look up as Castle approached. She couldn't help but grin as he placed her blue mug on her desk, the enticing scent of coffee permeating into the air.

"Thank you," she smiled as she lifted the coffee to her lips, relishing the warmth and the caffeine.

His heart began to palpitate as he watched her lick her lips, eyeing him seductively. He gulped slightly. God… she loved to tease him. And she was so damn good at it. He took a deep breath to calm his racing pulse, choosing to focus on the case rather than her luscious mouth.

"The boys call with anything new?" he exhaled.

"Yeah," she said, facing the relatively blank murder board. "From his canvass of the neighbours, Espo discovered that Emma and Jack had only been together for about six months."

"Let me guess. Emma had been paying all the bills."

"Looks that way. Jack's employment history was erratic over the past five months. He drove for a limousine service for a few weeks, was a security guard for about a month, and even tried his hand at bartending for a short stint. But for the past five weeks, he doesn't seem to have any sort of employment history at all."

Castle took a moment to study the DMV picture of Jack Armstrong. "I wonder what he'd been doing for the past month…"

"I might be able to answer that." The writer and his partner turned to face Ryan as the Irish detective approached, holding up a manilla folder. "For the past four weeks, our vic had been working off the books for Star Parties Incorporated."

"Isn't that the company that sends actors to kids' birthdays when they're having a theme party?" Castle verified as Beckett listened intently.

"The very same," Ryan noted, opening the folder. "Your kid a Disney fan? One call to Star Parties and Belle will show up at your door. Any fans of Pirates of the Caribbean?..." he continued, slapping a picture on the white board beside the DMV photo of the victim.

"You're kidding me!" Beckett exclaimed.

"Nope," Ryan smirked.

Castle couldn't contain his glee as he stared at the photo. "He really was Captain Jack!"

"Yep," Ryan nodded as the three of them looked at the picture. There was Jack Armstrong, hidden behind lots of heavy eye make-up, a stringy beard, dreadlocks, and a ragged hat. "Our vic was the go-to Captain for the Pirate parties."

Beckett shook her head slightly, processing the information, before turning to face Ryan. "Okay. Dig up whatever you can on his employment with Star Parties, particularly what houses he worked at as the Pirate King."

"On it," Ryan affirmed as he returned to his desk.

"Captain Jack wasn't a king, you know," Castle quipped, "but if you want to reference Gilbert and Sullivan now..."

"Shut up."

"Gotcha."

They silently stared at the murder board for a moment before Castle spoke again.

"You thinking he might have been killed by someone who hired him as the evening's entertainment?" Castle inquired.

"It's a possibility," she stated as her cell phone chimed.

"I wonder why he wore the eye patch," Castle muttered to himself as Beckett opened up the text. "Captain Jack Sparrow didn't wear an eye patch."

"Maybe he thought it made him look dashing," she answered, focusing on her text message.

"You saying I should start wearing an eye-patch, Beckett?" he smirked.

"Only if you get a skull and crossbone tattooed on your chest," she scoffed, meeting his glare with a smug look on her face.

"That settles it. No eye-patch for me," he asserted, turning his gaze back to the murder board.

Looking down to put her phone back in her pocket, Kate practically jumped as Castle suddenly declared, "Why didn't I see it before? It's so obvious!"

Beckett shot a glance at her fiancé. "What is?!"

"Why Jack was killed," he stated flatly. Beckett simply raised her eyebrows inquisitively, waiting for the inevitable punch line. "Rival pirate crew was after a hidden treasure map."

"Seriously, Castle? A rival pirate crew?!" she retorted, sarcasm oozing from her voice. "In Manhattan?"

"I think they're called Wall Street executives now…" Castle teased.

Beckett rolled her eyes as she bit her lip in an effort to refrain from giggling. "Come on, Castle," she sighed, sliding her arm into the sleeve of her coat. "Lanie's got something for us."


Just before pushing through the swinging doors to enter the examination room of the morgue, Beckett swiveled, pushing her finger into Castle's chest. Hard.

"No pirate jokes, Castle. I'm warning you."

"Awww, come on Kate. This is too good to-"

"Castle." Her voice deep, her eyes serious. He grinned slightly, eyes twinkling. "Okay, fine. Get it out of your system now, but I don't want to hear any more puns once we're back at the precinct."

"Okay… but you drive a hard barrrrrgain," he smirked, shooting Beckett a sideways glance as she pushed through the double doors, shaking her head.

The writer followed her into the room as Beckett sighed a greeting. "Hey Lanie. What'cha find?"

"A few things actually," replied the M.E. as she adjusted the overhead lamp. "Take a look at his chest…"

"Treasure chest?" Castle quipped.

If looks could kill, he just earned one from Lanie. "Really, Castle?"

"Beckett said I could," he noted in self-defense.

Beckett shrugged her shoulders as she shook her head as if to say: 'I tried.' Lanie took a deep breath and continued.

"As I was saying… take a look at his… upper body," she re-positioned the light, shooting Castle a knowing glare. "The perimortem bruising on his sternum and abdominal area indicates he was hit with something heavy prior to his death. He was also strangled with something. I found these fibers," she noted, handing the detective an evidence bag containing a few red stands.

"Send them to the lab," Beckett nodded pensively, returning the bag to the M.E. "Anything else?"

"Yep. I swabbed-"

"The deck?"

"Castle!" Lanie retorted.

"Sorry. Couldn't resist," he smiled.

"Girl, I'm gonna smack him."

"Go ahead," Beckett remarked, flashing a grin to tease her fiancé.

Lanie exhaled slowly. "I swabbed his mouth. Discovered saccharum residue."

"He was chewing on sugar cane before he died?" Castle remarked. "Why?"

"Hey," Lanie scoffed, holding up her hands, "that's up to you guys to figure out."

Beckett interrupted, giving the corpse a once-over. "Is that all?"

"Saved the best for last," Lanie said, moving around the table to stop at the head. "Decided to have a look at his eye-"

"His aye?" Castle teased.

Beckett rolled her eyes as she shot Lanie a look that said: 'Please ignore him.' Lanie just continued as though nothing had been said. "But when I lifted the patch, instead of an eye, I found this in the empty socket." She held up an evidence bag containing a solitary gold coin.

"He really did have buried treasure!" Castle gasped excitedly.

"You don't know the half of it," Lanie grinned. "After giving him a thorough exam, I found more of them," she said, holding up a bag with at least 10 more coins.

"He didn't…" Beckett murmured.

"Oh, he did," Lanie nodded gleefully. "He had booty in his booty!"

"Dude!" Castle exclaimed, looking at Armstrong's pale face, "That is so off-the-hook!"


Castle and Pirates?... Yeah, I couldn't help myself from incorporating as many stupid puns as possible.

Sorry... (but not really - hehehe) :)

Hope to write another chapter soon - hopefully RL will cooperate.

Judge away! :)